"Is it really safe to leave them alone against these three?" Cedrix wondered just as Amelia entered inside the mountain.
Amelia remained quiet for a moment, then flashed a smile at the old man. "I'm sure they will manage to beat them."
"But those three are strong," he said, not convinced by Amelia's words.
"So are Alex and Lilia," Amelia responded with the same smile on her face.
After this exchange, Cedrix remained silent and didn't bother her anymore.
'I have to say, it's much nicer being carried by Lady Amelia than Lord Alex.' Although Amelia wasn't running slowly, she was still considerate of him to not go overboard. Meanwhile, Alex moved at his full speed, which greatly disoriented the old man.
As they approached the door where the captives were, Amelia slowed her pace when she sensed the scent of blood, a small frown gracing her beautiful face, but her expression quickly eased up when she advanced further and spotted two women standing just before a large door.
With a slight smile, Amelia approached Anna and Anita, coming to a stop just in front of them.
As soon as she placed Cedrix on the ground, Anita, who was close to Anna, had her eyes shimmer with a bright, joyful blue light. She rushed towards her father and embraced him before he could regain his bearings, causing both of them to tumble down.
"Dad!" Anita tightly hugged Cedrix, tears streaming down her face.
"Huh?"
At first, Cedrix was surprised by the unexpected attack, but when his mind registered the words of his assaulter and understood that the one in his arms was his daughter, a mix of joy and relief rushed through his whole body and before he knew it, tears began streaming from his eyes like a flooded dam.
"My dear child, I'm so happy to see you again," Cedrix said with a big smile on his face as he hugged back his daughter.
"I thought I would never... see you again." Anita clutched her father's shirt as she cried.
"There, there, everything is going to be fine now." Cedrix stroked her hair with a loving smile on his face while tears still streaked from his eyes.
'Thalassa, our daughter is safe now,' Cedrix thought with a wistful expression on his face.
Meanwhile, Amelia observed the heartwarming reunion of the father and daughter with a smile on their faces, and even Anna's typically cold expression was replaced by a warm smile.
After spending a few days in the company of the old man, they had come to know that Cedrix deeply loved and cared for his daughter. The proof of that was, despite being wounded and having lost one of his eyes, the man didn't try to heal himself. Instead, he kept asking for help to save his daughter, even going as far as taking the risk to attack the guards of a noble house just so that he could get the help he needed!
Cedrix and his daughter kept hugging and crying in each other's arms for several minutes before finally letting go, but even then, tears still lingered at the corners of their eyes.
Rising from the ground, Anita faced Amelia and Anna, "Sorry to have shown you such an unsightly scene."
'Hoh, she is beautiful. Brother would surely find her to his liking,' thought Amelia when she finally got a good glimpse of Anita's face.
Waving her hand, Amelia replied, "don't mention it. We are glad for you and your father."
Anita nodded and then deeply bowed her head to Anna and Amelia, "Thanks for rescuing me and allowing me to reunite with my father. For that, I will be eternally grateful to you," she stated, her eyes glowing with a steadfast, unwavering blue light.
'Anita...' Cedrix was surprised when he saw his daughter bow to someone with her eyes shimmering with that kind of light.
"We are not the ones you should thank," Anna told Anita.
"Then who?" She asked, briefly raising her head.
"My brother. He is the one leading this mission. Without him accepting your father's request, we wouldn't even be here," Amelia explained.
"I see. I will thank him later when I see him, but still, I want to also thank you," she said, then glanced at Anna, "especially you. From the bottom of my heart, thanks for rescuing me."
"Don't sweat it," Anna smiled at Anita.
"I don't want to be the party pooper, but we need to go on, Anna. We have another mission to accomplish," Amelia said while peering inside the door to observe the other captives.
"Yes, we need to go. Stay here and don't go outside; it's dangerous," Anna advised as she turned around and walked inside the door, followed by Amelia a second later.
As Amelia entered the chamber, she heard Anita asking excitedly, "Who is this brother the other lady was speaking about, and how did you manage to convince him?"
"Hehe, let me narrate everything that happened after you were kidnapped. Firstly..."
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Amelia observed to her right just to see another door opening.
"They are inside, let's go" Anna glanced at Amelia and spoke.
Amelia nodded, but before she went inside, her gaze swept over the captives, and she remarked that none of them were looking at her or even the door to their "cell" that was wide open!
Even the nobles, who were usually arrogant, just kept staring at the ground as if the most precious treasure lay there.
'Humph, a bunch of cowards,' Amelia snorted as she stepped inside the chamber behind the second door.
****
"Arg..." Alex winced in pain as he extricated himself from the tree he had been embedded into.
He swept with his arm to wipe away the blood trickling from his forehead.
'These guys are tough' he thought while observing his two adversaries who were in front of him. 'Especially him,' he added as he observed the chubby man, Todd.
Despite the fact that this guy possessed a body that proved he wasn't even slightly fit, the speed at which he could move was simply mind-numbing; he was much faster than the monkey-like monster, largely so.
If Alex could still perceive the monkey when it moved, against Todd, it's simply impossible to do so. That's the reason Alex couldn't even evade his attacks and kept blocking; even then, he could barely block half of them.
Witnessing this guy's speed, he had come to wonder if the level 5 monsters he had encountered were truly level 5, since he had easily escaped their pursuit. Considering the fact that the monkey-like monster of level 5 had transformed into a normal monkey of level 1, Alex felt that his theory about these monsters not being true level 5 was right.
'Still, this guy's speed is abnormal,' Alex thought in suspicion.
The only saving grace about his fight against Todd was that the guy truly lacked strength. Although Alex couldn't block most of his attacks, the truth was that even those that managed to land on him didn't do too much damage, even though they still hurt.
Todd lacking strength was a good thing for Alex, but that's only the case if the chubby man was fighting alone, which he wasn't. The muscular man, whose name Alex had learned to be Tobias, was the perfect opposite of Todd.
Tobias wasn't nearly as fast as neither Todd nor Alex, but god damn, this guy's strength was monstrous. As if that wasn't enough, the guy fought with a hammer as large as Alex's head.
Each time his hammer fell on Alex, the latter felt like his bones were slightly cracking, and an instant later, he found himself flying through the air before violently crashing into something.
Although fighting either one of those two alone would be complicated, it was at least doable, but fighting them together was a total nightmare for Alex because those guys practically complemented each other. Todd engaged him first, captivating all of Alex's attention, and before he knew it, Tobias was upon him, striking Alex with his hammer and sending him hurtling in the air.
"You've got the zeal to be thinking about something in the midst of a battle against us," a mocking voice sounded behind Alex.
'Sh*t,' Alex cursed internally and attempted to turn to block the impending blow coming behind him, but before he could even move, the attack already landed.
Todd's fist connected with Alex's back and sent him careening forward.
As Alex tried to get his footing, he felt someone step just in front of him. A split second later, he heard the air shatter, and then something crashed against his ribcage.
Crack
Cracking sounds could be heard as Alex's body curved in a U shape and was sent hurtling towards a tree, yet again.
Boom
He crashed against a tree and felt like all the bones in his body broke.
'It hurts like hell.'
Alex winced in pain as he tentatively attempted to get out of the tree he was encased in.
However, before he could even move, Todd appeared in front of him and struck him in the chest again.
The force of the blow caused Alex's body to pierce through the tree's trunk he was encased in and sent him flying towards another tree again. Yet, before Alex's body reached the tree, Tobias appeared in front of him, swinging his hammer vertically.
"Enough!" Alex exclaimed and teleported.
A split second later, Tobias' hammer crashed against the ground.
Boom
"What the- where is he?" wondered Todd with a puzzled expression when Alex suddenly disappeared.
Placing his hammer on his shoulder, Tobias replied, "I don't know how he managed to disappear, but seeing that it happened, it means that he can't use whatever trick he used often, and I also bet that he isn't far from here. Your senses are sharper than mine; try to find him."
Todd nodded his head and began scanning their surroundings with his senses, quickly finding out Alex's new location around sixty meters from them.
"Found him, I'm going ahead; try to follow," said Todd before rushing towards Alex.
Meanwhile, the instant Alex teleported, he didn't waste time and called out in his mind:
'Status.'